After starting the season with consecutive losses to Pace Academy and St. Francis, the Hiram boys’ basketball team has turned its fortunes around by winning its first four region contests against North Paulding, Woodland, East Paulding and Paulding County, pushing the Hornets to a winning record.

It’s the first time Hiram has accomplished this achievement since the 2007-08 campaign which saw the squad win 24 games and make the semifinals of the state playoffs.

“We’re playing harder as a team with more energy and effort,” Hornets’ head coach Darius Hodge said. “We placed three kids in college and graduated six seniors overall from last year’s squad which was more star-studded. This year, we’re more concerned about winning and playing together.”

Junior guard Malik Gibson has led the team in scoring, averaging more than 13 points per contest, while senior backcourt mate Kervins Chaumette contributes 12 points per game for the Hornets.

“Malik worked hard on his overall game this offseason and Kervins has been a better point guard for us, making good decisions,” Hodge said.

Hiram’s front court has been boosted by senior Josh Hood’s nine points and nine rebounds per game along with sophomore Devon Brewer scoring eight per game.

“Both guys have been patient with post moves and been a physical presence inside that we’ll need to be successful,” Hodge said.

Hood said the team has “had a winning attitude and wanted to have a strong start to this season.”

“We’ll continue to work harder and not let distractions affect us,” he said.

Hodge said the team was “an inexperienced group coming into this year.”

“We had around 40 games in the summer, getting the players used to each other and they’ve done a good job of buying into our plan,” he said.

Hiram returns to action Friday at home against Sprayberry.

With the rest of the region schedule resuming in January and non-region contests in the rest of December, the Hornets know that more work must be done to achieve the team’s goals.

“We need to play with a killer instinct and finish our games stronger,” Chaumette said.

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